Many people are fooled by the Daily Mail’s appearance into thinking that it is something it’s not. Every week seems to bring fresh stories (such as this one) of people or organisations that have co-operated with it, but are then upset to find themselves misrepresented or just deliberately lied about in its pages. If they had realised that it is not a newspaper but a comic, and does not seem to be bound by any of the laws that we popularly imagine newspapers to comply with, they probably would not ever have agreed to speak to its journalists. Readers, too, are often misled by the Mail’s appearance into thinking they are reading a newspaper, which can often lead to enormous confusion on their part.

This simple misunderstanding stems mainly from the Mail’s logo. Its typeface confers instant authority and respectability. Imagine instead that it resembled one of its red-top competitors.

Look at that. Look at it. You wouldn’t respond to that publication’s blandishments about doing a “lifestyle feature” on you, would you? You’d run a country mile. You’d treat even the simplest query from them with the suspicion that it actually merited, and you’d expect them to spend their entire time lying. Basically, you would have fair warning.

If you have a suggestion of your own for what should replace the Gothic majesty of the Daily Mail’s current masthead, why not suggest it on this Facebook page?